Farrer Park has longed been bustling with a cafe scene with likes of Jewel Coffee, Letoile and Old Hen Coffee. Non Entree Desserts is another great addition to the hood.

This cafe serves artisan desserts, cakes and ice cream but at a relatively affordable price for this quality. In a casual and somewhat retro setting, it's with great comfort to enjoy exquisite desserts without being restricted by the formal atmosphere of a fine restaurant otherwise.

Interior & Ambience

I wasn't expecting to see such a big space indoors but it's great news as they are able to accommodate more patrons at one go without it getting cramp.

There is just something about the interior that excites. The sweet and joyful vibe gives hints of the amazing experience that awaits.

Loving the big elephant on the wall and yellow painted walls. I can already imagine how pretty the place will look with the festoon lights in the evening.

Dessert

l ordered the Chocolate Avalanche which is the signature dessert of the cafe. The presentation was really impressive and creative with the lava chocolate cake seated on top of a crunchy layer of almond nougatine.

The idea was to break through the top and allow the warm lava to flow on the ice cream. Firstly, this concept was interactive and created a fun element to it. More importantly it was delicious - the cake was soft beyond words and the gooey chocolate was so rich. The ice cream was also special as it was orange-infused, adding a light citrusy fragrance to the mix, neutralizing the thick chocolate taste. The mess was joyfully contained in this beautiful glass bowl.

In Short

What I really love about this cafe is the quaint location, as well as the great quality presented through its desserts at a reasonable price for this standard. Now, a new hideout on the list!

And a tip for finding this cafe, keep walking down Rangoon Road all the way till you almost see the end!

East Manhattan has grown to be a favourite bakery to many residents in the East area, and it has since opened a second outlet at Lorong Kilat, which is also home to Carpentry and Cook. We took a trip to the Far West and was surprised to see this little street grown into a tiny cafe town with the addition of Cafes like Revelry, a revamped Udders and Nook Pancake.

Despite coming from a complete unrelated industry, Owner John Wee, also Head Baker, spent considerably long time to pick up culinary and baking in Manhattan. He must have some talent in it, as the breads are not any less proficiently crafted than those from other famed bakeries around. They also have a strong emphasis on health, with gluten free breads to accommodate to those who have an allergy.

Interior & Ambience

East Manhattan is humbly decorated, and the inspiration came from some of the cafes the owner experienced in Manhattan.

Food & Drinks

This isn’t a place known for its coffee, but they served up an average cuppa. There was also the Iced Honey Cafe Latte which turned out to be overly sweet, and hopefully work is in progress.

We were surprised at how wholesome the menu was, of course, some dishes were just a variation of the same mains with different accompaniment.

We had quite a few selection of food, starting off with Pumpkin soup. It was surprisingly impressive, fresh, sweet, rich and thick. The Tumeric Chia Seed Toast that came with it was the cherry to the ice cream. It was fragrant, Crispy yet moist, and was a great complement to the soup. The soup is slightly pricey but that’s the value of a hand made soup with fresh ingredients.

Salmon Quinoa was strongly recommended by the Owner. The rice used was gluten free. To be honest it was our first time tasting gluten free rice and it’s not a taste that we would accept on the first mouthful. It is drier than normal rice and very grainy, which would come off as bland and very healthy tasting, but thankfully there was a delicious thick mushroom sauce that made the rice very edible.The huge piece of salmon was also superbly cooked, with the skin crispy, outer layer of flesh cooked while the centre still half cooked. This presentation retains the sweetness and juiciness of the salmon while keeping it tender and ‘q’. The Crispy skin and sprinkle of salt gave a great finishing touch to the dish.

We tried the other variation of Quinoa with Chicken leg. This dish would be for people who likes the taste of herbs – the chicken leg was rich with herb marination. It came with the Potato mash which was delicious. However the rice really couldn’t do without the mushroom sauce.

The Chicken Avocado sandwich was quite the average, a simple fare with the touch of a rich avocado sauce. The fries was worth a mention, crispy and fluffly.

Taking the previous few dishes as the benchmark, it was surprising that the Scramble Egg Waffle didn’t come out too well. The waffles, being dry and tasteless, couldn’t quite make it but was saved by a lovely home-made blueberry sauce that was fruity and rich. We had two desserts,

French Toast Strawberry Ice cream and Rocky Mountain. Both had the essence of East Manhattan, through a twist on the ingredients. The french toast was made with Rosemary, hence a spice fragrance topped the sweet taste profile. The brownie was crafted to be less like brownie, and more like a pound cake. Both worked pretty well for us though we thought the choice of ice cream could be more premium to give a better overall taste.

In Short

Generally, East Manahttan is strong in their breads, and the food menu is good, though some requires a bit more work done. Do not miss out on the Salmon Quinoa!

Assembly Coffee has been around for over a year and has built itself a loyal crowd, despite located in a relatively secluded area. In the quaint area next to CCAB and Botanic Gardens, Assembly serves up great coffee and teatime eats like croissants and sandwiches. They are also famous for their waffles.

Interior & Ambience

They did a great job integrating the dry riser inlet into its exterior design, which is extremely photogenic in any angle. The place is surprisingly small and cramped, and can hold up to only around 10 groups of people each time. Despite that, patrons are willing to wait for their turns.

They had definitely spent some thoughts and efforts converting this small space into a conducive environment for meals, but I wouldn’t suggest this as a place to stay for long. If you meet with their hectic hours, you would feel the hustle and bustle of the Assembly at maximal.

Coffee

The Magic Tulip was lovely, just the way I liked it. The blend was balanced and aromatic. It’s pretty easy to find good coffee nowadays, glad that the cafe scene in Singapore had evolved so rapidly.